Chance and Order No.I (black, mauve and blue), 1970

CommentaryThe black, violet, and pink-colored bars set against a light-graypictorial ground appear to be randomly distributed in ›chanceand order no. I.‹ Like his American contemporaries, KennethMartin explored the three-dimensional effects of a flat image.However, he differed by tying into the Constructivism of the early twentieth century and working not only with planar surfaces, but also with the dynamics of lines. During the late nineteen-forties, he was already trying to reduce the impact of subjective influences on the working process while creating his first abstract pieces. By implementing mathematical formulas and simple precepts, Martin developed systems for drafting structures of apparently randomnature. It is no coincidence that the pictorial ground resembles a papery surface here. Martin drew a square grid onto a sheet of paper as a template for the painting. He then linked crossover points according to a previously calculated numerical series. The seemingly superimposed bars thus reflect the temporal flow of the design technique. With this so-called ›Chance-and-Order‹ series, Kenneth Martin, toward the end of his lifetime, began to experimentwith the foundations of abstract art and the creative process.